Colin's posts

The one that was sitting across from her noticed this, and acquired a concerned look in his eyes.

"Hey..." he said quietly. "You okay?" he asked, as a green snake emerged from his short brown hair and looked at her as well.

"...headache..." the woman replied in a quiet, strained tone. "Bad one, suddenly." he said further.

"...should I get the extra strength?" the man asked.

"Yes. Please." she told him, an almost pleading tone to her voice.

He nodded and quickly got up, making his way to a cabinet and opening it.

"Extra... extra..." he mumbled. "Ah, here it is." he said, grabbing a bottle of the gel caps, as well as some water from the nearby water cooler.

The one that was conducting the experiment just looked at her, and grinned in return. It was wide, it was toothy, it was... unhinged. He looked at how she was set up, and laughed a little, the laughter threatening to overtake him and turn into a fit, but he managed to calm himself down and clear his throat a little, a serious expression on his face now. He ran a hand through his messy strawberry blonde hair. His own glasses were cracked at the edges, but not in nearly as bad a condition as hers were. The frames were a bit warped as well, but he showed no signs of injury on his body or face. His own body was... large, but vaguely skinny. He had the look of a mana that had worked out his entire life, and had then just abandoned it... not that that could rightly be seen with the large stained lab coat he always wore.

"Patience." he told her. "I need to make sure everything is set up correctly." he said.

"I don't want to lose you." he went on... before his serious face turned into a grin once more. "After all, you're my assistant and favourite guinea pig!" he declared with another loud laugh.

"Ready-set-GO!" he then yelled quickly, flipping the switch with enthusiasm.

As he did so, the inputs that were connected to her sent an obscenely large amount of electricity through it, and the man looked at the displays, monitoring the results with eagerness.

"Yes... yes..." he said, before he stopped his smiling and narrowed his eyes.

"Wait..." he mumbled. "Wait, what is...?" he started to ask, before looking over to the woman.

"These readings..." he muttered, wondering what the result of this would be. The readings weren't what he expected, but he wasn't going to stop it. Yet.

Gabriel returned the embrace and held her close. He felt her heart beating so close to him, and something stirred in him once more, stronger than before. It was almost like when he had stayed close to her while she slept the first time, but... different. The first one reminded him of his previous love, and had made him long for her, while wondering something about Erica. THIS one told him something else about Erica. Something FAR more definite.

"..." he was silent for a moment, before biting his lip.

He knew he had to say this. If he didn't, who knows when he would be able to.

"The... the truth is..." he started to say, trailing off a little, wondering how to word this.

"I also... wanted to do this... because the thought of your suffering... pains me." he told her. "I... I have this feeling. This feeling that... if I don't help you, then your time in this world will be cut short. Very soon." he went on. "And the thought of THAT makes me... miserable. Miserable, angry, and... well... sad." he continued. "And... I remember feeling like this before. This exact same way in the past, so long ago." he told her further.

"...the last time I felt like this, I wanted to spend the rest of that person's life with her." he revealed. "They... ended up disappearing, but that's not the point right now." he quickly clarified.

"The point right now... is that I feel the same way about you." he then admitted.

"I am Gabriel. I used to be nothing more than God's Love." he said. "But over countless years, decades, centuries, millennia, I've grown and developed into my own person. With my own love to give to others." he told her.

"And... I want to share MY love with YOU, Erica." he finally said.

Gabe just smiled.

"It's stuffed with my wing feathers." he told her.

"I know someone that... through her unique circumstances and mana, she is able to grab angel feathers and once she does, they solidify. And they won't dissolve or dissipate afterwards." he explained.

"So... I shed a bunch of my feathers and asked her to make a pillow out of it, as she's done it before, before herself, with one of my sibling's feathers." he said further.

"She recently finished it, so I brought it to you." he continued.

"Think of it as a way I can protect you, even when I'm not here."

Inside she found what looked to be a gorgeous pillow. It looked like just the perfect size for her bed, and like she could really comfortably rest her head and shoulder on it, if she so wanted.

"Because... well... I care about you." Gabe responded.

"I... don't like the thought of you having sleepless nights, night after night." he went on.

"And I really wanted to help you." he finished, as she grabbed it and took it out of the box.

And the first thing she noticed was that it was the absolute softest pillow she had ever touched in her life... which was quickly followed by a sensation of being warm and safe... like she was protected from the horrors of her past, her curse, and her nightmares.

Gabriel was silent for a moment, before setting the proffered box down on the couch, beside her, with her cat sniffing at it wildly.

"Hello." he responded. "Good to see you, too." he smiled.

"And yeah, I do." he told her.

"I know you've been having trouble sleeping lately." he said.

"I figured I'd get you something to help with that."

After however long of surfing the channels and finding nothing... mostly from being tired and distracted... she heard a knock at her back door.

"Hey!" she heard Gabriel call in. He'd been respecting her privacy more, now that things had calmed down, and she did appreciate that.

"Door's open!" she called back.

"In the den!" he said further.

She then heard the door open and shut, and a few seconds later, he approached her, box in hand.

"I got something for you." he told her, offering it.

Gabriel nodded in response.

"All right." he said.

"I'll remember that." he told her.

With that, he disappeared from where he was, pillow in hand... but one thing was different from the other times he'd disappeared from her presence. Instead of leaving nothing behind, a single feather was left to flutter down and either disappear or be caught by her.

The only other time he'd done so was when he'd saved her from that fire so very long ago.

And now... he'd done it again.

About 5 seconds after she sent it, she saw the familiar pillar of light, and Gabriel appeared a few metres in front of her.

"It's done?" he asked.

"Take a look." Aimee replied, setting the book down after marking her place, and handing the box to him.

"...huh." Gabe muttered, accepting it. "Nice box." he commented, peeking inside.

"...and that looks perfect." he told her, reaching in and testing it with his hand. "Feels as it should." he went on. "I'd say it feels super comfortable, but my perception of that is skewed, but I'd imagine that this feels perfect." he commented.

"But the real opinion that matters is the one that'll be using it." he continued.

"...thank you, Aimee." he then said to her.

Gabriel thought for a moment.

"I'll come pick it up." he said.

"If you finish early... well... send a prayer." he told her. "I'll receive it." he said.

"And... thanks." he finished.

He then took a few steps back, and disappeared from where he was, leaving her alone with the feathers.

And more than a few questions about the request he'd made. But given what Zeke had told her recently about his friend Erica, and how she had a new archangel guardian... she could make some educated guesses.

"Very well." Gabriel responded.

"One week." he told her. "I shall return then." he promised her.

"..." he was then silent for a moment, thinking about something.

"Ah... also..." he said, a bit more quietly than he had just been.

"Can you make the pillow or the case or whatever... dark colours, but with subtle stripes?" he asked.

"Just... for aesthetics."

Gabriel was silent again, folding his wings back in and turning around.

"Ah... well..." he stammered.

"I know you've made a throw pillow with my brother's feathers over the years." he told her.

"Any chance you could make a full-sized pillow out of all those?" he asked her further.

"See... I... well..." he stuttered further, stumbling over his words, before sighing heavily.

"It's for someone that's suffering from really bad nights... borderline sleepless if I'm not there." he told her. "And since I can't be there every night for her..." he went on, and Aimee could hear the sadness in his voice when he said that. "...I was thinking a full-fledged pillow of my feathers might suffice." he reasoned.

"Think you can do it?" he asked.

"And if so, how quickly can it be done?"

Gabriel then turned his back to her.

"Catch." was all he said.

He then flourished his wings out to their full extent, causing a veritable shower of angel feathers to fly out, floating all around her, and down towards the ground. Instantly, she knew what he meant.

Or, at least, she assumed so.

Get as many as she possibly could, and solidify them, before they touched the ground (or anything else), and dissipated entirely.

Gabriel just sighed as Aimee said what she did.

"No, I know where he is." he told her.

"I came here to see YOU." he said further, before pausing a moment, realising what he'd said.

"...TALK to you." he clarified.

"I need you to do me a favour, and I need you to have REALLY good reflexes right now." he added cryptically.